Page 27 of Night Play (Dark-Hunter 5)
He took his time exploring her mouth, nibbling her lips, and tasting her, until she thought she would pass out from his gentle exploration.
They stayed like that for the rest of the night. Skin to skin, body to body. Bride had never experienced anything like it. Vane had more stamina than anyone she'd ever heard of. By dawn, she was exhausted and fell asleep nestled in his arms.
He slept quietly spooned up behind her with one leg nestled between her thighs.
This was heaven. And for the first time in a long while, she felt a sense of belonging. Of acceptance. Vane didn't care that she wasn't skinny. He didn't mind that they were on a rickety old bed in a tiny apartment.
He seemed happy just to be with her.
And that was the nicest part of all this.
Vane lay there quietly, listening to Bride's soft snore as she slept in his arms. Her scent permeated his head. There was nothing he treasured more than her scent mingled with his. Than the feeling of her in his arms.
He was sore and exhausted. And he loved every bit of it. He looked down at her hand and withdrew his magic so that his mark was visible, too.
Mates.
He pressed his markings to hers and laced their fingers together. They would have to make love with their hands joined in this fashion in order to complete their mating ritual.
Bride would have to accept him.
And he would have to open himself up to her.
In the early light of dawn, that wasn't as frightening to him as it should have been.
Closing his eyes, he let sleep wash over him, and for the first time in months he wasn't racked with nightmares. He only felt the peace of his mate nestled up against him.
But what would happen once his mate found out he wasn't the man he pretended to be?
Could she ever accept the wolf that lived inside him?
He didn't know, but he promised himself that he would be honest with her. Once she was awake, he would come clean with everything.
He only hoped that being honest with her wouldn't cause him to lose her forever. Bride got up fifteen minutes past the time to open her store. As she pulled away from Vane, his arm tightened around her for just a second before he woke up. Those deep hazel-green eyes opened, then squinted against the bright light of the morning sun coming in through the windows.
"What time is it?" he asked, his voice deep and hoarse. "Quarter after ten."
He rubbed his hand over his face and groaned.
Bride bit back a smile at that. "Not a morning person?"
"No," he said gruffly, rolling over onto his back. He slung a long arm over his eyes to block out the light.
Bride had to take a deep breath at the image he presented lying naked in her bed. The blankets were twisted over his body, barely covering those long, manly legs. His chest was completely bare, showing off the muscles of his abdomen,
pecs, and arms. His dark whiskers added an almost deadly masculinity to his face, which was crowned by his long, wayward hair. Good grief, he was spectacular.
He moved the arm over the top of his face to peep at her with one eye.
"We've only been asleep for four hours, why are you up?"
She pulled her pink bathrobe on without getting up from the bed. "I have to work."
He reached out his hand to sink it deep into her hair. "Do you ever take a day off?"
"Only if I make plans with Tabitha in advance for either her or one of her staff to come over and cover for me. And of course I'm closed on Sundays. Other than that, no."
She kissed his hand, then pulled his arm away. He let it fall back to the bed without making any further comments. Getting up, she left him in bed and went to shower.
Vane lay quietly as he listened to the water come on in the other room. His entire body ached from last night's exertions, but he reveled that the pain of it didn't come from his back, chest, and arms having been clawed. He'd had too much fun with Bride last night and fun was something that was sorely missing from his life.
He grimaced at the brightness of the morning light. He really hated mornings. Forcing himself up, he pulled on his pants and zipped them, but left the button undone as he wandered into the kitchen area. Bride liked to eat two pieces of toast with marmalade in the morning.
While the bread toasted, he sliced her grapefruit for her and sprinkled a spoonful of sugar over it, then poured her a glass of orange juice.
He was putting the marmalade on the toast when she came out of the bathroom and stopped to stare at him.
"What?" he asked, puzzled by the deep scowl on her face.
"Is that your breakfast?"
Vane made a face. "Not hardly. I was going to fry some bacon for me."
"Then how did you know I liked to eat that?"
Vane paused as he realized that the man Vane wouldn't know what the wolf Vane knew. Clearing his throat, he shrugged. "I opened the fridge and saw the marmalade and grapefruit. Most people only eat those for breakfast so I figured you wouldn't mind them."
She seemed to accept that as she pulled the towel from her hair and draped it over her chair. "Thank you," she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.
Vane closed his eyes as his body hardened instantly. Without thought, he pulled her into his arms for a much more satisfying kiss. He trailed his lips over to her neck as he opened the front of her robe and pulled her naked body against his.
Bride moaned at the feel of his cool, hard body against hers. She ran her hand over the flexing muscles of his back and felt the scars he had there. His whiskered chin and cheek scraped gently against her skin.
"If you keep this up, I'll never get my store opened."
"Keep it closed and stay with me."
She cradled his head in her hands while his tongue played gently in the hollow of her throat. "I can't."
He pulled back. "I know. I was only hoping." He released her, then tied her robe closed. "Eat your breakfast."
Bride sat down at her small bistro-style table as he returned to the stove to make his bacon. She nibbled on the toast and watched him. "You have serious guts to fry bacon without a shirt on. Aren't you afraid it'll splatter?"
He shrugged. "It doesn't really hurt."
She frowned as she traced the various scars with her gaze. "How did you get so many scars, Vane?"
Vane debated how to answer her. She wasn't ready for the truththat they were battle scars from four hundred years of being pursued by Arcadians who thought he was a Katagari Slayer. For that matter, they thought any Katagari male was a Slayer. That he had been forced to fight his own pack to keep his brother safe.
That some of them were from the she-wolves he'd been with.
Some were from beatings.
"I haven't had an easy life, Bride," he said quietly as he turned the bacon over in the pan. He turned around to look at her. "I've never had anything I didn't have to pay for with blood and bone. Until you."
Bride sat perfectly still as that green gaze held her transfixed. There was something about his open expression that reached out to her. He was laying himself bare to her, she sensed it.
God, it would be so easy to love this man. He asked her for nothing and he was so incredibly giving. This moment felt surreal to her. She'd never known anyone like him.
This is too easy.
That niggling voice in the back of her head reared its ugly head. Nothing was perfect. Nothing was this easy.
There had to be more to him than what she saw. What if there isn't?
What if he really was just as he appeared? She couldn't see any deception.
Maybe it was because there wasn't any.
"Thank you for last night, Vane," she said.
He inclined his head to her, then went back to his bacon. He removed it from the pan and placed it on a plate, then turned off her stove and brought his plate to the table.
"You want some?" he asked.
Bride took two crispy strips while he got himself a glass of juice. There was something so intimate about sharing breakfast with him. She didn't know what it was, but in five years of dating Taylor, she'd never experienced a feeling like this. It was wonderful.
She ate quickly, then got up.
"I've got it," Vane said as she reached for her dishes. "You get ready and I'll clean up."
"You really are too good to be true," she said, kissing the top of his head before she darted to her makeshift wardrobe closet.
